Airline forced us to choose between breastfeeding and our jobs: flight attendants

Two veteran flight attendants for Frontier Airlines claim they were forced onto unpaid leave after having babies and were banned from breast-pumping while on the job despite routinely working 10-hour days.

Flight attendants Jo Roby and Stacy Rewitzer say the airline is “systematically failing” to accommodate pregnant and breastfeeding employees — even forcing Roby to pump breast milk in a bathroom at Denver International Airport and in airplane lavatories over a seven-month span, according to a federal discrimination complaint filed Tuesday.

“I am bringing these charges not just for me and my daughter, but also for future flight attendants and their families,” Roby said in statement. “No one should have to choose between being the mom she wants to be and pursuing the career she loves.”

Roby, a 13-year Frontier employee, gave birth to her daughter on Dec. 1, 2015, and returned to work in April 2016 after receiving a two-month unpaid medical leave extension to be with her daughter because flight attendants aren’t entitled to maternity leave under Frontier policies, according to the complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Once back on the job, Roby still had to pump breast milk every three or four hours while at work, but was obligated to do so in the family bathroom at Denver’s airport and while on board in between her job functions.

Roby asked Frontier for accommodations to breast-pump while on the job last December, but was offered an unpaid company leave of absence for two months, according to the complaint.

“Frontier denied my requests and told me that I was prohibited from pumping while on the aircraft at all — despite the fact that I often have to work 10-12 hour days and that I had been pumping on the aircraft for several months with no adverse consequences,” the complaint reads. “Because Frontier failed to accommodate my need to pump every 3-4 hours, I had no option but to apply for unpaid medical leave, which I am still on today.”

Roby claims Frontier forced her to choose between doing her job and breastfeeding her child.

“I have suffered, and continue to suffer, emotional and financial harm,” Roby wrote.

Rewitzer, who has worked for the airline since 2006, also faced disciplinary actions and risk of losing her job due to Frontier’s policy that penalizes pregnancy-related illnesses and absences, her lawyers claim.

The complaint filed Tuesday come on the one-year anniversary of similar discrimination charges filed by four female Frontier pilots. One of those pilots, Randi Freyer, who is still breastfeeding, claims Frontier is still failing to accommodate her while on the job, such as denying her request to avoid longer flights.

Freyer acknowledged that the airline gave her a list of places to pump at some airports, but said all of the locations she visited were inadequate. The airline has not designated lactation facilities at a number of major airports, including Los Angeles International Airport, Orlando International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, among others, Freyer said in her complaint.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and law firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg, which filed the complaints on the women’s behalf, said Fronteir’s policies are in violation of federal and state laws against discrimination based on sex, pregnancy, childbirth and disability in employment.

A spokesperson for Frontier said the Denver-based airline’s policies comply with all federal and state laws, as well as the relevant provisions of a collective bargaining agreement between Frontier and its flight attendant group.

“We have made good-faith efforts to [identify] and provide rooms and other secure locations for use by breast-feeding flight attendants during their duty travel,” spokesperson Jim Faulkner said in an email to The Post.